Customer Discovery
Test your assumptions before you build anything.
Customer Discovery is the discipline of testing your riskiest assumptions before writing a line of code or committing to a plan. You don't discover customers — you discover whether your current assumptions about them are real. Done well, it's the most valuable 10 hours you'll spend on any venture.
How to run this
- State the idea and assumed customer clearly and specifically.
- List 5–8 assumptions embedded in that belief.
- Rank assumptions by confidence × consequence.
- Design the cheapest test for your riskiest assumption.
- Run tests with real people — not surveys of people who already like you.
Customer Discovery
Steve Blank · The Four Steps to the Epiphany · 2005Interviewing people who already agree with you. Friends, colleagues, and investors who know your idea will validate it reflexively. Talk to strangers who match your target.
At least one assumption that got challenged — ideally one you were confident in. A discovery session with no challenges was probably too safe.
When you can name the single riskiest assumption, you've tested it, and you know whether it held or broke — and what you'll do differently.
Try it interactively with WAiDE
WAiDE will help you surface your assumptions, rank them by risk, and design your discovery approach. You'll leave with a structured discovery plan and a session report.